Pulse Lets You Feel the Beat, Alone or with Your Band | VIDEO

Musicians will soon have a new way to keep time: the Soundbrenner Pulse, a wearable vibrational metronome that can synchronize an entire band of up to 10 performers.

Unlike mechanical and electronic metronomes, Pulse lets you feel the beat right on your skin. Using advanced haptic feedback, it delivers precise vibrations that are three to six times stronger than those of a smartphone or smartwatch, making it easy to sense the beat distinctly as you perform.

“When you wear the Soundbrenner Pulse against your skin, you can literally feel and internalize the beat you want to follow, and it becomes the most natural feeling in the world,” says Florian Simmendinger, the cofounder and CEO of Soundbrenner.

Pulse is the focus of Soundbrenner’s new Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. The effort begins today, March 31, with a goal of raising $75,000 in 31 days.

Soundbrenner is a new entrant in the world of music-related consumer electronics, and Pulse is its first creation.

The system consists of the wearable Pulse device and its companion smartphone Soundbrenner app, which it connects with via Bluetooth Smart. The Pulse itself is just slightly larger than a sports watch, measuring 4.9 cm in diameter. The case is black and features a black face surrounded by a BPM wheel.

The tempo can be set in three ways: by tapping onto the face itself, by turning the BPM wheel, or by setting it within the Soundbrenner app. Tempo is adjustable up to 300 bpm.

In addition, LEDs in the face can be made to flash in time with the tempo, giving you another way to experience the beat. The light’s color can be customized via the app, and the feature can be placed in Discreet mode to cancel visual feedback.

The Soundbrenner app offers a range of rhythm patterns and can be customized with user’s patterns, accents and presets. The app includes a Smart Music Coach that learns the wearer’s practice behaviors and encourages development with challenge-and-reward practice techniques.

There are also rhythm exercises designed to help players develop their sense of rhythm, speed, accuracy and endurance, making Pulse much more than a revolutionary metronome. Think of it as the total performance trainer for musicians.

While Pulse has obvious benefits for the individual user, its Multi-Link features makes it ideal for bands and ensembles, allowing up to 10 musicians to receive the same vibration pattern in synchronization.

Pulse can be worn on your arm or leg and comes with adjustable silicon straps designed for either purpose. It’s currently compatible with iPhone 4S and newer iPhones, and with most Android phones.

Unlike the vibration of a smart phone, the Pulse’s vibration is strong and well defined, with precise beginning and end points. Users can adjust the strength of the vibrations to suit their preference. In the video below, Simmendinger compares the Pulse with a smartphone’s vibration to demonstrate the power of the Pulse’s haptic technology.

The device marks a major and potentially high-profile debut for the fledgling Soundbrenner. The company was founded in Berlin in 2014 by Simmendinger, Julian Vogels and Vinh-Nghi Tiet, all of whom are musicians. The company eventually relocated to Shenzhen, in southern China, a hot-spot for hardware startups, thanks to China’s leadership and efficiency in electronics production.

The Pulse will ship in November for $149. Discounts are available for early-bird backers through Soundbrenner’s Indiegogo campaign, which offers several funding levels, ranging from a basic “Groupie” support offering ($29) to various intermediate packages for single, multiple and limited-edition Pulse packages. During the first 24 hours of the campaign, the price is just $115.

Check out the video shown below, and visit Soundbrenner’s Indiegogo page for more information or to support the campaign.